Aurora 17/18 season begins with big musical, 3rd Outfit partnership

Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, Abigail Williams from The Crucible and award-winning playwrights Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole) are all part of Aurora Theatre’s 2017/18 mainstage season.

Ann-Carol Pence, Anthony P. Rodriguez.

A spring musical and the Harvel Lab season will be announced at a later date.

Gwinnett County’s only professional theater — Aurora is in Lawrenceville — is led by producing artistic director Anthony P. Rodriguez and associate producer Ann-Carol Pence, who co-founded the company. The mainstage season lines up like this:

The Hunchback of Notre Dame. JULY 20-AUG. 27. Aurora teams for a third time with Theatrical Outfit (Memphis, In the Heights) on a large-scale season opener. The stage musical, based on Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel and the 1996 Disney movie, traces the journey of deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo as he discovers his inner strength. The music comes from Alan Menken (Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast) and the lyrics from Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin).

Roberto-Aguirre-Sacasa

Abigail/1702. SEPT. 21-OCT. 15. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s 2013 script takes place 10 years after the Salem witch trials, as the notorious young accuser Abigail Williams seeks salvation in Boston. She finds her new life haunted by terrors of the past. For Abigail, forgiveness is everything — but at what price?

Christmas Canteen 2017.NOV. 16-DEC. 23. Back for a 22nd season. This cheesy, charming bit of holiday magic is a throwback to the comforting days of Andy Williams’ TV specials and Perry Como sweaters, with a few newer touches thrown in. The music will be top-notch and touching, and you’ll feel as if you’ve gone home for Christmas.

Audrey Cefaly

Maytag Virgin. JAN. 11-FEB. 11, 2018. A dark comedy by Audrey Cefaly. Being a widow in rural Alabama isn’t easy. High school teacher Lizzy Nash is on a leave of absence after her husband’s sudden death when an oddball neighbor moves in next door. We follow them through the course of a year, as they develop a funny and poignant friendship that explores matters of the heart. The show had its world premiere in 2015 at the Womens Voices Theater Festival in Washington, D.C.

Ripcord. MAY 10-JUNE 3, 2018. Battle lines are being drawn at the Bristol Place Senior Living Facility. Crabby Abby won’t pay for a private room but keeps her solitude with an impenetrable spite. The fiercely cheerful Marilyn won’t back down. A seemingly harmless bet they make to settle things escalates into an outrageous game of one-upmanship. The comedy from Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire has been described as “The Odd Couple” meets “The Golden Girls.” Ripcord premiered in October 2015 at off-Broadway’s Manhattan Theatre Club.

Ticket prices vary by performance. Single seats go on sale July 3. Season subscribers can choose their seats now. Details HERE or at 678.226.6222.

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About Kathy Janich

Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s editor, is a longtime arts journalist who has been seeing, working in or writing about the performing arts for most of her life. She's a member of the Theatre Communications Group, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, Americans for the Arts and the National Arts Marketing Project.